Impulse fuel feeding device



1935. E. A. ROCKWELL 1988'285 IMPULSE FUEL FEEDING DEVICE Original FiledSept. 3, 1927 5 SheetsSheet 1- :llllillllllllilllllTL E A ROCKWELLIMPULSE FUEL FEEDING DEVICE Origirial Filed Sept. 5, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet2 E. A. ROCKWELL.

IMPULSE FUEL FEEDINQ DEVICE Original Filed Sept.' :5. 1927 w 5Sheets-Sheet s,

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assesses he is, sass IMPULSE FUEL FEEDING DEVICE Edward A. Rockwell, NewYork, N. Y.

Application September 3, 1927, Serial No, 217,482

Renewed August 2, 1938 1 Claim. 103-38) My invention relates to a devicefor feeding fuel by means of an impulse providing a pre determinedpressure, and which is adapted for use in connection with fuel feedingdevices gen erally, but which is especially adapted for use inconnection with internal combustion engines and automobiles using thesame. a

The object of my invention is to provide a device of the above characterwhereby the fueiwill be fed by means of an impulse providing apredetermined and constant pressure upon the fuel,

and which, therefore, does not change the rate of consumption of thefuel according to any variations in the fuel supplied by means of the Afurther object is to provide 15 feeding device.

a device which will accomplish the above purposes. by producing thepressure impulse by the fuel; around the same. Furtherpbject's of myinvention are to provide a construction of this kind with a minimumnumber of parts, and such as to occupy a minimum amount of space so asto eliminate unnecessary cost of materials and labor in manufacturingthe same. Further objects of my invention will appear from the detaileddescription of the same hereinafter.

While my invention is capable of embodiment in many different forms, forthe purpose of illustration I have shown only certain forms of the samein the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows diagrammaticallythe general arrangement of an apparatus made in accordance with myinvention;

Figure 2 is a vertical section of a valve chambet as used therein takenon line 22 of Figure 3;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the same;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the same;

Figure 5 is a vertical section of an impulser used in connectiontherewith taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 6;

Figure 6 is a section through the same taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Figure 7 is a vertical section of a modified form of myrinvention; and

Figure 8 is aplan view at same,

vide an impulse mechanism utilizing a pistonv In the drawings, referringfirst to Figures 1 to 6, I have shown my invention as applied to anautomobile comprising, as shown diagrammatically in Figure 1, a chassis1 having wheels 2 and 3 at the rear and front thereof, an en- 6 glue 4at the front of the same, and a fuel tank 5 at the rear thereof providedwith a removable cover 6. A gasoline supplypipe '1 leads from the fueltank 5 to aport 8 in a casting 9 which forms an upper member of thevalve chamber, 10 as shown in Figure 2. The casting 9 has an anglemember 10 thereon with openings 11 for the introduction of bolts tosecure the valve chamber to, any suitable part of the mechanism orautomobile. There is an inner chamber 12 in said a t n a, the lower endof which is closed by of an inlet valve 13 which is supportedona-v'alve'seat 191 screw-threadm into the casting, 9. In the valve seat14, furthermore, there is carried a dome-shaped strainer 15 6f wiregauze, or any other suitable material, which is retained in place bymeans of a split ring 16 fitting into a groove 17 in the member 14 insuch a position as to overlie a flange 18 on the strainer 15. Beneaththe strainer 15 there is anouter chamber 19 formed by a removable cup 20adapted 'to act as a vacuum trapping chamber andto catch any sedimentduring the passage of I the gasoline, said cup being held in place by ofthe casting 9 with the aid of a gasket 22. It will be noted that theport 8 leads into the said outer chamber 19 so that the gasoline issupplied therefrom through the valve 13 into the inner chamber 12. Fromthis point the fuel 85 passes through a valve seat 23 screw-threaded inthe interior of the casting 9, the upper end of which acts as a seat foran outlet .valve 24. which is held in place by means of a spring 25. Thefuel passes out of the casting 9 through a 0 pipe 26 to a carburetor 27having a float chamber 28 attached thereto, which is provided withafloat 29 having a pin-waive 30 to maintain a constant level of liquidin the chamber 28 for supplying the carburetor 27 with a supply of fuelof a constant head so as to provide a uniform pressure of fuel from thefloat chamber to the carburetor and thereby render the feed of the fuelto be consumed by the carburetor independent of the pressure in thesupplyoi the fuel from the impulse feeding device.

The impulses for the device are supplied "through a pipe 31 which leadsthrough an in- 'clined port 31a positioned at the lower side of thepiston chamber 32 so as to drain oil from said piston chamber 32 liquidwhich may pass the piston 33, said piston reciprocating in said pistonchamber being arranged to provide air impulses through said pipe 31 tothe chamber 12 to which the pipe 31 leads. The piston 33 has a number ofair ports 34 passing through the wall of the same, and a piston ringpacking 35 between the location of said ports and the head of thepiston. At the upper end of the stroke of the piston head, the vacuum inthe cylinder below the piston is vented through the ports 36 in the wallof' the cylinder and at the lower end of the piston stroke the vacuum inthe cylinder above the piston becomes vented through said ports 36registering with the port 34 in the piston wall. The piston 33 has aconnecting rod 37 which passes through a rocker arm 38 carried byjournal-bearings 39 and having a roller 40 on its other end arranged toride on a cam 41 carried by a cam-shaft 42 driven from any suitable partof the engine 4. The rocker arm or lever 38 supports a cylindricalmember 138 which has a circular opening 139 therein adapted to receivethe connecting rod or stem 37 whereby the cylindrical member 138 isslidable with respect to the stem 37 and is rotatable with respect tothe lever. 38 thereby accommodating the arcuate movement of the leverwith respect to the linear travel of the stem 37. The extreme upper endof the connecting rod 37 is provided with a buffer spring 43 held inplace by a ring 44 secured to the end of the connecting rod. Said springrests at its other end-within a shoe or abutment 45 adapted to contactwith the inner end of the rocker arm 38 and this provides an increasedspring-resistance at the end of the lever stroke to eliminate noise. Theinner end of said rocker arm 38, furthermore, is provided with extensionsprings 46 and 47 in order to force the rocker arm 38 at all timesagainst the face of the cam 41, the other ends of the springs 46 and 47being connected to a bracket 48 forming a part of a frame 49 whichcarries the journalbearings 39. Said frame 49, furthermore, acts as asupport for one end of a main spring 50, the other end of which rests inan annular support 51 carried by the piston 33 around the connecting rod37. It will be noted from Figure 6 that the frame 49 and the cylinder 32are secured by means of bolts 52 to an engine casting 53. In the form ofmy invention illustrated in Figure 5 it will be apparent that the lever38 is entirely carried within the engine casing 53 and this constructionis desirable in many instances where the aperture at which the pumpcasing is mounted is located beneath the engine-driven cam.

In the form of my inventionshown in Figures '7 and 8, the pipe 7 fromthe fuel supply tank 5 leads into a cover member 54 screw-threaded to afloat chamber casting 55 and having a valve seat 56 to cooperate with avalve 57 carried by a float 58 and which is adapted to move on acentrally located pin 59 screw-threaded in the bottom of the floatchamber 55 which also acts as a vacuum trapping chamber. A passage 60conductsthe gasoline from the float chamber 55 to a sediment chamber 61having a flange 62 thereon to enable an impulser cylinder 63 to besecured thereto by screws 64 and bolts65. In

7 the bottom of the cylinder 63 I have provided a valve seat 66 which isscrew-threaded into the same, and which is adapted to support on theupper surface an inlet disc valve 67, which is retained in place bymeans of a cage 68 secured in an annular recess located around the valve.seat 66; In the valve seat 66, preferably, I also provide a strainer66a which is held in a recess therein by-means of a snap-ring 661). Atthe side of the cylinder 63 there is provided a spring pressed outletdisc valve 69 which is supported by a valve seat 70 in the cylinder 63and the movement of which is limited in the opposite direction by anextension 71 on a screw-threaded flange 72 provided for connection tothe pipe 26 which leads to the carburetor, the carburetor beingconstructed in the same manner as previously described. In the cylinder63 there is a piston 73 having a connecting rod 74 provided with abufler spring device 75 at the opposite end, constructed aspreviouslydescribed in connection with the other form of my invention. Theconnecting rod 74 is moved by means of a lever 76 carried in a Journal77 in a lever-housing 78 secured to an engine casting 79 by screws 80.The lever 76 carries at one end a rotatable member 176 whichslidably'engages the stem 74. The lever 76 is operated from the enginein the manner described previously in connection with the other form ofmy invention. Furthermore,

in this instance there are two springs 81 forcausing the lever 76 toremain in contact with the operating cam 76:, the springs 81 beingconnected at one end to the lever 76 and at the other end to a diaphragm82 which is bolted between the lever-housing 78 and the cylinder 63 bymeans of bolts 83. A spring 84 surrounds the connecting rod 74 and issupported at one end by the diaphragm 82 and at the other end is incontact with the body of gasoline I have provided an effective means forpreventing the escape of the gasoline around the outside of the.

This is done by providing a bath piston 73.

of oil under higher pressure than the gasoline around the periphery ofthe piston 73 in annular grooves 86 and 87 around the outside of thepiston, and by providing a port 88 in the cylinder 63 which communicateswith an oil pressure pipe.

89 leading to the oil pressure pump-90 of the usual kind-provided oninternal engines for the pumping of the oil in the lubrication of theengine to both seal the piston 73 and lubricate 1 to 6 the gasoline isfed by constantly recurring pressure impulses due to the reaction of thespring 50 which produces the forcing or pumping stroke of the piston 33,the springs 46 and 47 being provided merely to cause the lever 48 tocontact at all times with the cam 41. In the instance of the arrangementintended to be indicated in Figure 5, the impulses are given to airoccupying the piston chamber and pipe connections thereto, and aretransmitted thereby tothe valve casing containing the valves 24 and 13,which is purposely placed high to prevent flooding when the fuel tank 5becomes elevated, so that the fuel is thus fed under a constant pressureimpulse to. the float chamber 28 of the carburetor. Accordingly, also,the float chamber 28 maintains a constant level of fuel for thecarburetor 27 and, therefore, the fuel is vapor-- ized or sprayed by thecarburetor 27 entirely in dependently of the particular pressure whichis names therewith, an effective priming is received and for itsfunction as a sediment chamber and priming chamber, the chamber 19 canbe made as large as desired. In the other form of my invention asshownin Figures 7 and 8, the operation is similar. The intake stroke of thepiston under the positive actuation of the engine cam, indicated at76.1., draws in or admits the i'uel from the fuel source, which, asshown, is the float chamber, 55, in which the level is controlled by thefloat, 58, which closes the inlet port, 56, when the predetermined levelis reached. The fuel thus taken into the piston chamber is retained bythe check valve, 6'7, subject to the impulse stroke 01 the piston underthe reaction of the spring, 84, by which the iuel is red to thecarbureter float bowl past the check valve, 69, which prevents itsreturn in the succeeding intake stroke of the piston.

In this arrangement it impulser piston in its impulse stroke is incontact with liquid so that there is no occasion for providing the meansof venting vacuum or pressure in order that the piston strokes may befully eflective for intake and discharge, respectively, as was seen tobe necessary in the arrangement indicated in Figure 5, in which thefluid upon" which the impulse is exerted is gaseous. But on the otherhand, in view ot the undesirabllity 01' having the liquid pass thepiston, it is important in the arrangement of Figure 7 to prevent suchpassing, which cannot be eiiectively done by any structure shown solidpacking; and in the in Figure 7, it is done by willbeseenthatthe betweenthe providing an oil seal under pressure around the periphery of thepiston 73 so that no gasoline can escape, and, instead, ii there is anyflow of liquid it will be the slight flow of oil from around theperiphery of the piston, It will be understood that the provision in thearrangement shown in Figure 'l 01' the float chamber, 55, andfloat-controlled valve therein is to prevent flooding the pumping systemwhen the fuel tank, '5, is elevated above the level at the carbureterfloat chamber, 28.

It is to be understood that as the impulser any other known type orimpulse producing means may be used instead or a piston.

While I have" described my invention above in detail I wish it tobeunderstood that changes may he made therein without departing from thespirit oi the same.

I claim:

In combination, an. impulser chamber, a reciprocating spring pressedimpulser therein, a lever extending laterally into one side of thechamber operating the impulser, a fuel feeding passageway extendinglaterally towards the other side of the impulser chamber, and a fuelinlet chamber connected with said passageway and located alongside ofthe impulser chamber, the impulser chamber being divided transverselybetween the lever and the impulser and clamped together at that pointcircumterentialiy, together with a spring supporting diaphragm clampedimpulser chamber sections.

A. ROCKWELL.

